Solid Heart
by Rolling-Chan
Summary: She was a girl with an unmoving heart, lost and alone in the world. She was a girl with a mission, taking along an unlikely companion. When a deep secret is discovered, can they really trust each other? One-shot.


Author's Note: So I was listening to Solid Heart by Hatsune Miku and Kagamine Rin (great song, by the way) when I got the inspiration to write this. I worked really hard on this so I hope you guys like it. Some awkward parts, I'll admit, but I think I pretty good job with this.

-Ray

* * *

Rin Kagamine looked up at the evening sky, watching as the sun slowly set in the horizon. She loved how the pink, purple, and orange painted the sky; the beauty was something that couldn't be captured, but had to be witnessed. The fresh air of spring, the coolness of the breeze, the sound of the crickets singing their song - it could have been a perfect day. Rin sighed. It could have been.

The world was at war, man against robot. Man had always tried to make robots so much like themselves, sometimes even better. What a mistake it was. Soon enough robots, now with the ability to think their own will, had realized that they were far more superior then the men that had created them; being advanced both physically and mentally. It was no wonder the robots tried to wipe out the entire human race and take over the world, and it appears that they have now won.

Rin lied down and placed her arms behind her head. She hasn't seen another human being since the accident, can she hope that there are still humans out there? The gentle breeze flowed throw the meadow, the only meadow known to Rin that hasn't been touched by war yet, blowing the grass in movements that Rin could only describe as dancing; the feeling of the grass against her skin felt as if the blades were giving her tiny little kisses. Why couldn't the whole world be as peaceful as this? Perhaps if everyone took the time to admire God's nature and feel the peace it brought, then war wouldn't excist. Rin turned on her side and closed her eyes, allowing sleep to take control of her.

Rin awoke with the morning sun, feeling the warmth it brought. It has been too long since Rin last raided so she knew she couldn't avoid it today. She left the meadow, walked ten miles into the city, destroyed from the robot's attack years ago, and headed to the super market. Knowing that there's no way it can still be good, Rin skipped the boxed foods and began choosing from the non-perishables. After filling her backpack with as much as she could carry, Rin started to leave until the hole in the pack grew from all the weight and the cans spilled out onto the floor.

Rin shook her head, knowing that now she has to take the time to find another backpack in the market. She walked over to the backpacks and looked through them all, trying to find one large enough to carry all her food. After picking out a large black one, she decided that new clothes wouldn't hurt either; after all, her jeans were ripping up and down her legs and her shirt had tears on the sides. Rin quickly grabbed some new clothes, changing into a black skirt, black leggins that went down to her ankles, a black long sleeved shirt, and new black sneakers. She really liked black.

Returning to the pile of food, Rin packed it all away again and began to leave the store. "Raid" may sound like a dangerous word, but to Rin Kagamine it was the easiest thing to her; it had been her way of life for four years now. She missed the sounds of people having conversations with one another, she missed the sounds of laughter, she missed having someone to talk to; but it was no use, she was alone and probably the last person on earth. The robots had taken over, and Rin was the last human. Or so she thought.

Hearing a stumble amongst the ruble, Rin set her pack down and began investigating. Probably a dog, no doubt, they were common around here. Rin turned the corner and walked into a demolished building, the only parts standing being two walls that met at the corner. Rin was about to turn and leave when she felt herself being grabbed from behind and a cold object pressed against the side of her head.

"Don't make any sudden movements and I won't pull the trigger," a voice whispered. Rin, not knowing what to do, nodded slowly as a sign of acknowledgement. "Are you alone?" Rin nodded. "So there aren't any others like you?" Rin shook her head. The voice sighed. "All right, I'm going to let you go now. You don't hurt me and I won't hurt you, got it?" Rin nodded again.

Rin felt herself being released and the object taken away. Turning slowly so that she wouldn't cause alarm, Rin looked at the one who had spoken to her.

It was a girl, a human girl at that. She was half a head taller than Rin, and her eyes were the same shade as Rin's cerulean blue. She wore a white sleeveless shirt that was tight enough to show her body type but lose enough so that it hung more like a T-shirt. She had knee length white jeans and wore white sneakers. This girl obviously liked white. Her cerulean hair was tied in two high ponytails, but it still went down to her hips. She had put away the object she had pressed against Rin's head . . . a gun. "Sorry about that," her sweet but stern voice said, "but you can never be too sure these days." She looked around. "Are you really alone?" Rin nodded. "What's the matter? Can't you talk?" Rin thought about it then shrugged. She hadn't said a word since the accident, and she wasn't sure if her vocal cords still worked. "Try," the blue haired girl encouraged.

Rin wanted to try, but she didn't know what to say. "How about you tell me your name," the girls said. She held out her hand. "I'm Miku. Miku Hatsune."

Rin carefully took the girl's, Miku's, hand. ". . . Rin. . . Rin Kagamine . . ." she said quietly, surprising herself by how much her voice sounded like that of a child's.

"Nice to meet you, Rin," Miku shook the hand. "Now what is a kid like you doing out here all by yourself?"

"Kid?" Rin almost snorted. "Same can be said about you."

"I'm sixteen," the girl said proudly, "that's plenty old enough."

Rin didn't say anything since she figured it might be rude to get into an argument with someone you had just met. "What are you doing here?" Rin asked. "And where did you come from? I thought I was the last person on Earth."

"Not by a long shot," Miku said. "I just left New York and I'm on my to Nashville because I have been entrusted to deliver a very important message. There are many of us humans still alive, and we are not going to just hand the robots our planet."

"But you're still a long way from your destination," Rin said.

"And it's not getting any shorter," Miku said. "I just stopped to see if I can find any food, it was then that I noticed you. What's in the bag?" Miku pointed to the direction Rin left her backpack. "Food?"

Rin nodded. "The market still has plenty of non-perishables good for eating. You probably want to stock up before heading out."

"Thanks, kid, I will," Miku said. She picked up her gray bag and was about to leave before she stopped in her tracks and asked, "Would you mind showing me where the market is?"

Rin agreed, led Miku to the market, and helped her stash as much food as she could into the bag. Miku even took some bleach bottles and helped herself with the knives. "Why do you need those?" Rin asked curiously.

"Bleach bottles are perfects for storing water," Miku said, "they prevent bacteria from growing. As for knives, well that's easy - skinning, cutting, and, if necessary, stabbing."

Rin jumped in shock. "Stabbing?!"

"Just because somebody may be human doesn't mean that he won't kill another," Miku said. "We humans can be idiots sometimes, you know? Putting our pride above the good of humanity. If we had just stopped being prejudice and worked together from the start instead of killing each other, then maybe this war would have ended by now."

"You feel pretty strongly about this," Rin observed.

"I lost too many friends because of it," Miku said. Zipping up her pack, she stood up and began to walk off. "Thanks for everything, Rin. God bless you."

Rin watched as the girl left but then chased after her. "Hey Miku! Wait up!" she yelled. Her vocal cords were sore from not being used for such a long time, but she wasn't going to let that stop her from calling after Miku.

"What is it, kid?" Miku asked.

"Take me with you," Rin said, placing a strap of her backpack on her shoulder.

"This isn't some walk in the park," Miku said, "this is serious business. This is a dangerous mission; I can be killed at any time."

"That won't stop me," Rin said.

"Well then why do you want to come so badly?" Miku asked.

"I have spent the last four years believing I was the last person on Earth," Rin answered, "do you really think that now I know that there is a settlement of humans somewhere I'm just going to pass it up?"

"It won't be easy," Miku tried to talk her out of it, "if robots find us they will kill us on the spot."

"Then we just have to make sure they don't find us," Rin said. "Accept me or not, I'm going to follow you so I suggest you get used to the company."

Miku sighed and shook her head. "Fine, just don't get in my way."

So from then on Miku and Rin travelled to Nashville together. Rin noticed how Miku was closed in and cold, as if she were afraid of letting herself open up to others. At first Rin tried to show an interest in her, asking Miku questions about her family and such, but soon gave up when Miku only ever gave one-worded answers. It was clear to Rin that making friends was the furthest thing from Miku's mind. After a while the travelling became nothing more than just walking during the day and sleeping at night, neither exchanged word with the other. The girls were wise about the food they had taken, eating only twice a day, sharing each can for a meal. The bleach bottles also proved worthy; though they were heavy to carry they held a good deal of water and were always refilled whenever Miku and Rin came across a river or stream. Every day was the same until they had come across another destroyed city.

"Be best to gather food while we're here," Rin said quietly.

"Assuming there is any," Miku responded.

That day was unusually hot, but since they were heading further down south it was expected to get hotter. "Won't you get sun stroke or something dressed like that?" Miku asked Rin. "Black isn't exactly a color worn in the heat."

"The heat doesn't bother me," Rin answered. "I get neither hot nor cold."

"How?" Miku asked.

Rin's lips quivered. "Nothing."

To their disappointment, the only market they could find was completely destroyed, and there was no hope of finding food from it. "Doesn't matter," Miku sighed. "We have enough food to last us until the next town."

Just as they were about to leave, a missile appeared from behind and caused the ruble of the market to explode. "Robot!" Miku hissed in realization. She grabbed Rin and dragged her behind a wall. "Sit here and don't do anything," Miku said.

"What about you?!" Rin whispered loudly.

Miku pulled out her gun. "I'm going to kill this fother mucker." With that she stood up and looked over the wall. Miku pulled the trigger and when the bullet hit there was a huge explosion.

"What kind of bullets are those?!" Rin exclaimed.

"Do you really expect normal bullets to kill those things?" Miku said. She turned around and fired some more. "Gammit! It's not alone!"

"How do they work?" Rin asked.

"Is now the time for lessons?" Miku said in unbelief; Rin just seemed so calm! "They explode upon impact, making them far more deadly than normal bullets. They were designed after the war started so that we would have a way to kill robots." Miku spat. "But we still can't find a way to kill those heat-proof robots."

Rin looked behind the wall and saw the robots searching the area for them. They seemed to be the gun robots that the other robots had built to hunt down and kill humans. At least the robots weren't stupid enough to make their robots smarter than them. Now if only . . .

"I have an idea!" Rin said as she took Miku's gun. Instead of aiming at a robot, Rin fired the gun while aiming at a wall.

"Stupid!" Miku rebuked as she took the gun back. "We can't go wasting these bullets."

"Don't have to," Rin said. Her plan worked, the wall fell and crushed one of the robots but spared the missile. Rin ran out from behind the wall and ran towards the missile.

"Rin!" Miku called. "Get back here!"

Rin ignored her, running towards the lone missile. After claiming it, Rin tried to attract the robots by yelling, "Come and get me you stupid pieces of scrape metal!" That got their attention. Rin, carrying the missile, ran into the only building with the roof still intact. She didn't have to worry about being hit as she ran because these robots needed to take the time to aim and they couldn't do that with her running around like she was. Once inside the building, Rin hid behind some ruble as she waited for all the robots to enter. When she was certain they all had entered, Rin ran towards the exit as she aimed the missile. "Sayonara!" she yelled as she shot the missile towards the roof. Rin escaped the building, but not in time for the massive explosion.

"RIN!" Miku yelled as she approached the ruble. She noticed a small figure weakly sit up. "Rin?!"

"I'm okay," Rin said.

"Oh. My. Gosh," Miku said. "Rin! Your arm!"

Rin looked at her arms. Her left arm was intact but her right was lying a few feet away from her. "Don't worry," Rin said, "I'm fine."

"Fine my butt!" Miku ran towards the girl. "If we don't stop the bleeding-" Miku examined the arm. "There is no bleeding . . ." Miku looked at the disconnected arm, sparks and unattached wires flying from it. "You," Miku realized the situation. She wrapped her arm around Rin's neck and pressed the gun to Rin's temple. "You're a robot!" Rin did nothing but whimper in Miku's hold. "Give me one reason as to why I shouldn't kill you!"

"Because," Rin said, "because I was born human!"

Miku was hit with a flood of curiosity, but didn't let her guard fall. "What do you mean by 'born human'? Explain yourself!"

Rin took a deep breath. "I was born just as human as you, nothing but flesh and blood; but when I was twelve . . . we were out for a car ride and there was a drunk driver and-" Rin composed herself, "I lost my brother in that accident. . ." Rin allowed a single tear to fall in greif for her beloved twin. "I was barely alive . . . just barely living. In order to save me, the doctors replaced most of me with robotic parts. I'm nothing more than a cyborg."

"So you're both robot and human?" Miku asked for clarification.

"Yes, you can say that," Rin answered. "I was actually in for a check up when there was a massive explosion in the building. I, being mostly metal, survived while everyone else had burned to death. That was the last time I had ever seen another person." Rin sighed. "That is until I met you."

Miku, too filled with pity to think clearly, let Rin go and put up the gun. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you had it so tough."

"It's okay," Rin said, "I'm used to it now." Slowly, Rin stood up and retrieved her arm. Sitting criss-crossed, Rin began to reattach her right arm. "My left arm is the only part of me that's fully human, so if you doubt me at all you can cut it. It'll bleed like yours will, and if you dig threw enough tissue you'll find the bone."

Miku said nothing but sat across from Rin. "That must be hard. Some luck you're left-handed, huh?"

Rin shook her head. "I was born right-handed, but after the car wreck I had to learn to use my other hand. My right arm has fallen off enough for me to be able to put it back on with ease."

Miku sighed. "Well, we might as well stay the night here but we should head off tomorrow at the first sign of dawn. Got it, kid?"

"Yes," Rin answered.

Miku took out a can from her pack and used her can opener to remove the lid. "I hope you're in the mood for peas."

"Yummy," Rin said with a disgusted face.

"Get over it, kid," Miku said.

"And stop calling me 'kid,'" Rin said. "I'm an adult."

Miku stared at her. "Yeah right," she snorted, "by what standards are you an adult?"

"How about the law's?" Rin said. "I'm eighteen."

Miku looked at her in shock. "You can't be eighteen! You don't look a day over fourteen!"

"That's because my last check up was four years ago," Rin said. Seeing Miku's confused face she explained, "Since most of my body's metal, I had to have check ups every six months so that my parts may be replaced so that I looked as if I was growing up and aging. Since the war started there hasn't been any way for my body to be, let's say, 'updated' so though chronically I'm eighteen, I'll always be physically fourteen."

Miku just stared in wonder. "That is something you don't hear everyday."

"It won't seem much of a shock after a while," Rin predicted. "As long as none of my parts fly off, nobody will ever be able to tell that I'm not fully human."

Miku shook her head. "If everyone else ever found out, there would be a huge commotion."

"No doubt," Rin said as she tested her arm, now reconnected with the rest of her. "I don't care what you say, though. I'm still going to help you deliver your message. I'll do whatever I can to help your kind win the war."

"So you're on our side?" Miku asked.

Rin shook her head. "I'm on nobody's side; I just want the war to be over so everyone can live in peace. I'm only helping the humans because it seems to be the right thing to do."

"But you're a human," Miku pointed out.

"Was a human," Rin corrected. "I'm half robot and half human. My heart is a machine that's only purpose to pump my blood through my remaining arteries, so I can be called a holder of an unmoving heart. Because of this, I belong with neither."

"You belong with me," Miku said.

Rin looked at her with wide eyes. "What?"

"I may not be a cyborg," Miku said, "but I can feel how hard it is for you. You're my friend, Rin, and I'm not going to let anybody hurt you."

"You say that so confidenlty," Rin observed.

"Because I'm confident I can keep others from hurting you," Miku said. She held out her hand. "If you agree, you and I will become partners and others will have no choice but to judge me as well as you."

"How does what I am affect you?" Rin asked.

"How would I look if I had a robot as my partner?" Miku asked. "If they know what you are and that you're with me, then they'll count me as traitor."

"You can't put yourself on the line like that."

"Of course I can," Miku said. "I have a pretty good reputation, so if I trust you then they'll have to trust you."

Rin looked at Miku. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because you're my friend," Miku said. "Need there be another reason?"

"You've been cold and distant," Rin said, "I think I need to hear a more believable reason."

Miku sighed in defeat and told her story. "I, too, lost my brother in a car wreck. I was eleven, and he was seventeen. He was running some errands for our mom and I decided to go with him. We were on our way there when some idiot ran a red light and crashed into us. He was in the driver's seat and I was in the passenger's, and since it was the driver's side that was hit, he died on impact while I only had suffered minor injuries." Miku hugged her knees. "I guess because you had also lost your brother I was able to emphathize with you and not feel the need to be so tight."

Rin thought about it. Miku was being honest, or so it seemed, and she really did care for her. Maybe being partners wasn't so bad an idea afterall. Rin held out her hand. "Partners?"

"Partners," Miku confirmed as she took Rin's extended hand.

It was a twist of fate for the two to have met, and this twist is what started the change of their world.


End file.
